Shot shells



April 8, 1958 A. HITCHENS I 2,829,595

SHOT SHELLS Filed Nov. 23, 1951 FIG .I FIG. 3

- INVENTOR I I Harm 1. Mic/3m:

this head washer is also formed of metal foil.

' 2 volute winding. In Fig. 2 a single sheet has been wound to produce a tube of the desired number of convolutions.

to form a tube.

SHOT SHELLS Aaron L. Hitchens, North Haven, Conn., assignor to Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, a corporation of Virginia Application November 23,1951, Serial No. 257,800

1 Claim. (Cl. 102-42) This invention relates to ammunition and more particularly to shot shells.

The conventional shot shell is formed ofa paper body and a metal head. The propellant powder, primer and shot charge are arranged in the head and body, the pow der and charge being separated by wads, and the end of the body closed by a crimping operation.

In the present invention, I eliminate the brass head and utilize a tube of metal foil which serves as the body and which can also be shaped to form a base that eliminates the necessity of a head. This results in the production of a completely water-proof shot shell that possesses other advantages over the conventional construction.

In a second form of the invention I prOVide a separate head washer in which the primer pocket is formed, and This form of the invention also possesses the advantage of being formed completely of metal foil, and is water-proof.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown several embodiments of the invention. In this showing:

Fig; 1 is a sectional .view of a loaded shot shell, prior to closing, in which the bottom of the tube is turned over and formed to receive a primer pocket; Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the shot shell after closing; Fig. 4 is a vertical, sectional view. on line 44 of Fig. 3; i

Fig. 5 is a perspective, sectional view of the head washer of a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the body or tube; 1

; Fig. 7 is a similar view showing the washer and tube assembled; and

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the tube showing another form of winding.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawing, this form of the shot shell of my invention comprises a tubular body 1 formed of a plurality of layers] of metal foil (see Fig. The tubular body may be formed by spiral or corn The tube may. be formed of aluminum foil coated with a suitable adhesive, such as vinyl acetate resin, to secure the layers to each other when the sheet material is wound Other metal foil may be used in place of aluminum. Other adhesives, of the thermo-setting or thermo-plastic type, also may be employed. Instead of forming the tube of a single sheet, it may be formed of a plurality of sheets equal to the number of convolutions,

United States. Patent O Patented Apr. 8, 1958 as illustrated in Fig. 8. Thus, the inner layer 2 may have its meeting edges at 3, and the other layers 4 may have their meeting edges 5 staggered with respectto the meet ing edges 3, and with respect to each other.

A tube may be cut into units of the proper length, and one end of each unit may be turned over to form an integral head 6. The head may be provided with a primer pocket 7 for reception of a primer 8. A base Wad comprising a main body 9 and a skirted member 10 may be mounted in the body. The propellant powder 11 is separated from the shot charge 12 by a cup wad 13 and one or more filler wads 14. After the shell is loaded, the end is closed in by crimping as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. As shown, segments 15 between creases 16 are crimped downwardly into substantially horizontal position.

The top end of the tube, which is subsequently to be turned in to form the closure, may be made thinner, that is, consist of a smaller number of layers of foil, than the body of the tube. The base portion may be made thicker than the body of the tube.

Referring to Figs. 5 to 7, in the modification therein illustrated, tubular material of the form shown in either Fig. 2 or Fig. 8 is cut into units of a proper length. The end corresponding to the head of the cartridge is then enlarged as shown in Fig. 6. In this figure, 17 represents the end of the body of the shot shell and 18 the enlarged portion. The head washer 19 (Fig. 5) is also formed of the foil material of several layers or of sheet metal. Primer pocket is formed in this washer. The washer and tube are assembled as shown in Fig. 7. The washer is placed in position resting on the shoulder 21 between the tube body 17 and the enlargement 18. The portion 18 is then spun over the washer, as indicated at 23. The shell so produced is primed, loaded and sealed in the manner heretofore described.

A shot shell made in accordance with the present invention possesses greater inherent strength than shot shell having the conventional paper body or tube. A lesser number of convolutions or layers of aluminum foil may be employed than are used in the conventional paper shot shell.

I claim:

A shotshell comprising a tubular body of a plurality of layers of aluminum foil having an adhesive between the layers of foil to secure them to each other, a transverse integral substantially thickened head portion formed of a compressed length of said tubular body at one end thereof, and a charge of propellant powder and shot in the tubular body, the other end of the tubular body being turned in over the shot charge to form an integral closure for the shell.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 40,978 Crispin Dec. 5, 1863 40,988 Rodman et a1. Dec. 15, 1863 181,977 Pieri Sept. 5, 1876 1,196,200 Batcher Aug. 29, 1916 FOREIGN PATENTS 10,760 Great Britain June 2, 1894 914,780 France July 1, 1946 

